Pieces of Fragments
by AK-103
Summary: The nine tailed demon fox is portrayed as a massive fox capable of bringing upon natural disasters just by a mere swing of one of its tail. Power and strength, it certainly possess these two things. Labeled a demon when it is actually nothing more than just a sentient chakra construct, will it live up to the tales that have been woven and made real by humans? Fem-Kyuubi.
1. Chapter 1

**To all the beautiful people of Fanfiction dot net, cheers.**

 **Something new from me.**

* * *

Everything was empty.

No light. No sound. No wind.

Just him and the uncomfortable feeling of wet, sticky water reaching up to his shin.

It was an unfamiliar experience, believe him. It also explained why he was currently panicking.

The thought of someone kidnapping him in the dead of the night and then dumping his body in Konoha's sewage system crossed his head, but he realized that his hands and legs were not bound; and it did not smell anything like a sewer would. Just the sensation of cold, icky water around his feet.

"Where is this place...?"

Of course, his question was unanswered. Despite the fear of not knowing where in the nine hells he was, he made a decision to advance. He needed to face that fear and the only way to do that was to move forward and hopefully find the exit to wherever the hell was outside.

He walked and walked, everything around him ignored. He could only focus on the thoughts of figuring out his current predicament and making it out of this sewage system of a dump alive and in one piece. Anything else did not matter. While walking, he began recalling what he could recall.

He finished dinner at Ichiraku last night, Iruka-sensei was there to treat him. He ate four bowls of ramen, before going back home to rest for the day. He remembered locking the door to his apartment, finishing a carton of a day's due of expired milk and brushing his teeth on the sink while humming a song. It was all trivial things he was currently recalling, but any little bit of detail he could remember would help him determine what kind of situation he ended up in currently.

Silently, both due to lingering fear and wariness, he strided through the uncharted waters of whatever the hell this was. He noticed that as he waded through, the water was getting deeper. It even stained the edge of the shorts he was wearing. Maybe it was due to his young mind, but he was having trouble keeping his composure. The lack of scenery, presence of light or just... life in general was not helping him cope with the situation.

The water beneath was like the metaphorical embodiment of demotivation and helplessness; retarding his advances, hindering him from moving freely. There was no air, yet he was breathing. There was no wind, yet he felt strangely cold even on the upper body area.

His young mind, being the inexperienced and immature concept it was, could only come up with one conclusion.

"Is this... am I, dead?"

He expected silence, not a loud, boisterious and deep voiced laughter echoing from the distance.

It startled him. It startled him so much to the point he fell into the water, submerging his body for a second before he hastily and shakily attempted to stand back up again.

" **Boy... thee who hath interrupted mine rest... come closer..."**

The voice sent shivers down his spine. It freaked him out to no end, especially with how deep and ominous it sounded. It sounded nothing like what a human would make, but it was speaking in in a language he understood.

Shaken and wet, he braved, "W-Who are you?" It was more like out of instinct and fear rather than curiosity.

The voice laughed again, but unlike before, it sounded even more amused.

" **Me? I am which that exists; the embodiment of power and strength. Tell me, boy, what am I?"**

The... voice was speaking in a way it reminded him of Iruka-sensei a little bit, like an adult, or someone older. This person... wait, was it even a person in the first place?

"I-I don't know..." he himself did not know why he was answering the question. His body was not really in the greatest of composure of the moment, he could not blame himself. "W-Who or what are you?"

The voice echoed again, this time, instead of a roaring laughter, was more of a subdued chuckling. The sense of amusement was still present, almost as if whatever the owner of the voice was enjoying looking at him helpless and all that.

" **Boy..."** the voice trailed. **"I am power, I am strength. I am the source of all your accomplishments. You aspire to be a shinobi, do you not, then surely... you must know what I am."**

It was speaking to him in riddles, which did not really help his case at the moment. His trembling brain was barely coping up with the reality of him encountering some sort of otherworldly being somewhere in this god forsaken sewer of a place and now the same ominous voice was making him do a freaking pop quiz about being a ninja?

" **Think, boy... this is your first test from me. If you can't answer..."**

Naruto stiffened.

"I'm sure you would not want to know what I could do to your puny little body, would you?"

He was pressured. Threatened, more like. His brain began running, using every single ounce of whatever amount of brain power that existed in there in the first place to figure out the answer to the voice's question.

 _'Think... Think... power and strength... and it has something to do with ninjas... what do ninjas have that's similar to power and strength? Skills... jutsu! No... it's probably not that... it can't be something that easy...'_

The boy was sweating buckets of cold seat. He could feel his sweat mixing with his water soaked shirt as he struggled to think of the right answer to the question.

 _'Ninjas... power and strength... godammit what is it?!'_ He gritted his teeth. _'Jutsu... what does a ninja have which is like power and strength?'_

" **The clock is ticking, boy."**

 _'Think, Naruto... THINK! Source... source? Wait... jutsu... source?!'_ He lifted his head, the very definition of desperateness etched on his face. "CHAKRA! You are chakra! Or at least a source of power! Something!"

More chuckling followed, as sinister and as deep as before. Meanwhile, he was just there so close to pissing himself and wondering if he had gotten the answer right or not.

" **Congratulations, boy... it seems that you have managed to extend your pitiful little existence for a brief moment. Now... I suppose you deserve a reward. I will allow three questions. Come, boy, speak."**

As the voice spoke, the more obvious it was for Naruto to see that it was enjoying his plight. That thought bought him a little bit of bravado, knowing his impulsive and violent nature.

"W-Well... who are you? And where am I?!" The boy asked, like a cornered rat.

" **Kukukuku... I am the embodiment of power and strength, the source of all shinobi's power; the ninth fragment of a primordial relic... I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the same fox that was driven into madness twelve years ago on your so called village."**

The realization sunk into him.

" **As to where you are... you may call this place your subconscious. Though I am sure that you figured that bit out already with how empty it is, have you not?"**

That last bit of comment ticked him off more than it was supposed to. "Oi!"

" **Enough about that, boy. Let us not waste time, shall we? I have something important to speak to you... now, your final question, what is it?"**

Naruto gulped. He swallowed the large lump in his throat which was entirely made out of air. Despite knowing the identity of the voice, he managed to speak again.

"W-Why are you here...?"

" **I'm glad you asked."**

Suddenly, the waters pooling around his legs were bubbling; but they did not feel like they were heated up or anything. Then, everything glowed a vibrant red, almost in an ethearl-like manner. It light up the place, showing Naruto what was ten feet in front of him. The first thing he noticed was the tall and ridiculously large iron bars-like cell door, then the pair of sinister, large and glowing red eyes. The theird he noticed was the large row of razor sharp teeth of... whatever it was on the other side of the gate. Then, finally, he noticed the large piece of paper stuck in the middle of the gate.

" **I was sealed by the Shinigami himself... who was summoned by that man on that one fateful night. Why did he choose you? I do not know, nor do I care. All I care about was the fact that there was a mortal who dared to summon Death Himself into the plane of the living and demanded of Him to seal me away... into a child, nonetheless. How disgraceful."**

With every words spoken, the feeling of irritation was getting clearer and clearer. Naruto was sure that the place rumbled a little bit, but that must have had been his legs shaking too much.

" **I have graced you with my sight and the reason of my presence... now, boy, listen up."** It was still speaking, but he did not see any indication of mouth opening. Was it talking through his mind?

" **I will only say one thing to you... and that is for you to release me."** His heart sunk when he heard of its request. **"I have no greater desire than to be released from this... prison which reeks with the stench of death. So, boy, I demand you to release me. Now."**

It was a good thing that his pants were already wet, otherwise, it might have noticed him wetting it again. He was minutes away from losing composure. How was he able to keep calm when he was face to face with a literal demon? His palms were balled into fists, and he was bitting into his lower lip hard. His lower lip oozed out red liquid from too much pressure being applied to it by the teeth, and with the shakiest of movements, he managed to shake his head.

"N-No... no way! Not in a million chance am I gonna go and set you free!" The boy shouted to the much, much larger being behind the cage. "After what you did twelve years ago, there's no way I'm letting you out!"

The boy was blown back by an invisible force, but in actuallity, it was the impact of the fox's hand crashing onto the gate of the prison which was holding it captive.

" **Insufferable! Imbecile! Was that introduction not clear enough to educate your hairless ape brain? I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the strongest of all the Tailed Beasts and I demand you to free me, Warden, or I will** **vanquish every single one of you hairless apes to the depths of Oblivion!** **"**

The boy made a groggy stand, but he managed to lift himself up. Still with the same stubborness as before, he glared at the fox's large, ruby, blood-like eyes.

"No... Not happening, fox!" He shouted, almost like a deviant. "It'll take more than that to get me to free you!" Naruto was expecting another explosive burst of anger or anything of the sorts, but the demon behind the bars merely chuckled. Then, he noticed that the water was red. It glowed red, almost as if a light was dipped into the water.

" **Kukuku... I attempted to be as civil as you hairless apes put it, but it seems that violence is a trait shared between demonkin and your kind. Very well, boy. This is more."**

Without warning, he was surrounded by red tendrils. They have no sensation when they latched on to his body, but they were pulling him down. While the tendrils were pulling him, he noticed that the water was starting to rise. The monster was trying to drown him, and he had no way of resisting. Tendrils climbed everywhere. They coiled around his neck, arms, legs, and even wrapped themselves around his torso. His small frame was enveloped by the red tendrils, while being drowned at the same time.

He screamed, but he lost his voice. He was already drowning, vision unclear. He could not breathe and his hearing was hindered due to the water seeping in through the orifice of his auditory organs. His vision began to fade, and the last train of thoughts he had was,

 _'Ah... I'm gonna die...'_

What's gonna happen now? Will the fox take over his body and kill everyone in the village while wearing his skin? Ayame, Teuchi, Iruka-sensei, and the old man Hokage... they're all going to die by his hands. His hands were going to be covered in their blood. He can picture a demon possessed version of himself standing on top of a mountain made out of the corpses of every single person living in Konoha. As the village was burning behind him, he was smiling, laughing, as he bathe in their blood and consume their innards.

As he was drowning, he willed one last thought.

 _'Help... please... stop the demon from killing my precious people with my hands... God, or whoever is there... help...'_

He was not expecting an answer. He was not expecting God to intervene with his death and deliver divine wrath upon the demon harrassing him.

He sure as hell did not expect the seal to malfunction at that very second too.

Not even the demon itself.

" **What? What is..."** The demon reeled back. It felt something foreign, something weird, something it had never felt before. Then, it felt a tugging sensation, a sensation foreign yet not completely alien to it.

The seal was meant to keep the demon from escaping its host, but no matter how tight it the seal was, a few leaks were bound to happen. What it had just done was forcibly leaking its chakra to harm its host, but the demon did not know that the seal was alive.

Yes, the seal _was_ alive.

" **No... No!"** It started screaming as it attempted to recall the chakra it had expelled back to itself. **"No! Curse this... insufferable... little...!"** It could feel itself being pulled away from... well, itself. It could literally feel the force physically separating a part of it from itself.

The Tailed Beasts were entities comprised entirely of chakra. No, they were chakra. Fragments of an old, forgotten primordial being lost to the knowledge of the common man. It was illogical for such a thing to feel pain.

Yet here was one, feeling pain.

" _ **NOOOO! IT BUUUURNS!"**_

It was indescribable. The pain was unlike anything it had ever felt. It felt like it was undergoing a process of some sort, a transformation process. It could feel its very form – which was pretty much form less to begin with – changing into something alien to itself. It was being condensed, mashed and shaped into something different. It could feel the conscience it had before being forcibly tampered against its will.

" **NOOOOoooooOOOO!"** It screamed. _**"WHAaT IsSSSss... HAPppEnNinNNNGG!?"**_

Its screams were unheard of to anyone except itself. Not even to the boy who was drowning.

The piece of paper stuck to the front of the gate glowed a vibrant white color, like the light at the end of the tunnel. White consumed red, and all that was red was now white. Everything dissipated, from darkness to water, everything was consumed.

Even the boy himself was consumed.

* * *

Pain.

The first thing he felt.

He felt immense pain overcoming his senses, and it could all be traced to his head. His head felt like it had been through the tumbler for eight times and then dropped off the Hokage Mountain three times. A splitting migraine was not enough to describe the pain he was currently feeling, heck, he might as well compared it to a splitting ship.

The rest of his body was numb, in the literal sense. He could not feel anything from his neck all the way down to his pinkies. All he could feel was the stinging and God agonizing pain currently assaulting his head.

But just when he thought things could not get worse, he felt burning sensation starting to run up his spine behind him. He tried to scream, but nothing came out. He could not even feel his mouth opening, so was he even screaming in the first place?

Then, ringing in his ears. It intensified the pain he was feeling on his head. It's as if hornets were flying right inside his ear canals and terrorizing whatever's there to terrorize. If his fists weren't clenched before, then it sure as hell was now, numbness be damned.

It lasted for minutes and he could not bear the sensation. He thought he might faint, but for whatever sick and twisted reason unknown to him, he was pretty much still conscious. He tried moving any part of his body, but the sensation was not felt by him.

Then, when he thought things were about to get worse, it stopped.

The pain stopped, the searing sensation on his spine stopped. He started to be able to feel his bedsheets from the skin on his back and his limbs were starting twitch.

Instinctively, when he could move his limbs after not being able to, he rose up to feet, in doing so, he unknowingly kicked something-

"OW!"

-off his bed.

Wait, ow?

The half naked boy peeked from behind his arms. He peeked over the edge of his bed, seeing what it was that he had just knocked out.

"Uuuu... the frivolousness of it all..."

Flesh.

Bare flesh. Bare women flesh was sprawled on the floor of his bedroom for his prepubescent eyes to see. Flawless peace colored skin, shapy body proprotions... you name it all, it was all there in one package. The long waterfall of black hair did nothing to cover her up, in fact, it made looking at her all the more sinful.

A pair of ruby eyes opened, blinking as they seemed to be adjusting to the morning light shined from outside through the windows. The person, undoubtedly a woman for obvious reasons, was rubbing the back of her head, carressing the spot which she had fallen on.

"This... where am I?"

Naruto blinked. Her voice definitely confirmed that she was a woman. Then, her red eyes met his blue ones.

"W-Who... who..." the boy began, pointing a quivering finger at the woman sprawled on the floor before him. "Who the hell are you lady?!"

Rather than a mountain of apology for breaking into house and sneaking up on his bed like what a suspicious person would do when they were caught, she only expressed anger.

"Don't you dare address me like that, you hairless ape."

The blonde blinked again. "...ape?"

"Yes, ape. Your kind is probably related to one, if I recall correctly. Now stop making that face, you look twice more ridiculously and three times more pathetic than the entirety of your race combined."

Naruto wanted to do many things. He wanted to scream, he kind of wanted to hit her for calling him pathetic and he also kind of want to hit himself to make sure that all of this was not a dream. But for some reason, his body failed to grant him to do anything of those three things, so, he settled for the next possible thing.

He screamed.

Five minutes later, he calmed down.

And now, the two of them were sitting on the floor of the bedroom in seiza. Why seiza? Because she demanded him to show proper 'etiquette' when he was in her presence.

He now wore his orange jacket, which he always kept nearby. Last night was pretty hot so he had to sleep without any shirt on, but he still wore the black boxers with him. The woman herself, who was literally butt naked minutes ago, was now dressed, well he wouldn't call it decent since she looked pretty indecent right now, as well. The good ol' T-shirt and shorts combo.

Good job, Naruto.

Despite... the quality of her attire – trust him, he was not complaining – she still had this air of elegance and maturity on her. He would admire her if he wasn't too busy being so freaked out over the fact that the lady in front of him was a potential thief and pedophile.

"S-So... can we begin?"

Her eyes expressed nothing but disinterest. "I shall let it."

Naruto's left eyebrow twitched. But, with everything in him, he restrained himself. "So... who are you? Seriously." He asked with god-honest confusion in his voice.

"Me?" She blinked, looking confused on her own. Then, that expression changed, into something that fit the word 'disappointed'. "It seems that your primitive simian brain is far beyond memorizing capabilities. I have answered that question for at least two times, three times now. Are you sure you are not a monkey, human?"

"Oi! You just said admitted I'm human, so that's not valid!"

"Hmph, at least you're intelligent enough to catch on quick."

Wow, not even that bastard Sasuke pissed him off this bad.

 _'Just who the hell is this chick?!'_ was the only thought running through his brain.

"Regardless of your questionable intellect... it seems that I will have reintroduce myself again." The disappointment did not disappear from her face, in fact, he was sure that it was there for the sole purpose of mocking him.

"I am the Kyuubi-"

"Don't fuck with me."

 _Blink. Blink._

The woman's eyes rapidly close and open after hearing the word that he just used. She was met with a straight faced whiskered, blonde boy, looking at her with doubt levels that should not have been possible in the first place.

"Excuse me?"

" _Excuse me?"_ The blonde repeated what she had said. "I'm the one who should be saying that here, lady!" He exploded like a gas tank right there in front of her.

"Do you even know what you've done, _huh?_ You broke into another person's house, crept up to the owner's bed, who's like three times younger than you not to mention, and then you tried to twist your way out of it by saying something like _'I'm the Kyuubi no Kitsune, you should let me go'_ and you expect me to believe that!?"

She was so shocked that she did not know what to say.

"I know I'm not exactly the brightest bulb in the... uh... drawer here lady, but even I know that you're spouting bull."

"And why were you naked, huh?! Don't tell me that you're some sort of sick, degenerate who gets turned on by sneaking into twelve year old boys' apartments and joining them in bed while in the nude!"

"Boy, you should listen to me."

"WELL YOU _SHOULD_ BE IN PRISON!"

The woman was now staring at him, eyes wide, with her mouth slightly agape. He, on the other hand, was panting after that earlier display of explosive behavior that he rarely let out.

The woman, despite knowing that this was a misunderstanding on the boy's part, tried to compose herself to think.

She noticed the lack of... well, nothingness and the presence of things around her. There were things she was not familiar with, like, what was that miniature sun-like object on the ceiling? Next, she was no longer taking the form of a twenty story tall fox of doom capable of causing natural disasters by a swing of her tails... which brought her to the next part, the tails themselves.

She had no tails. Not even one. Not even one of her nine, beautiful tails were present on her. And, what began to spark her irritation, she was taking the form of a hairless ape, muchlike the one currently sitting in front of her.

"Oi! I get the feeling that you've just insulted me there!"

Despite all of this... predicament coming down and crashing on her, she refused to break composure. Such would be unbefitting of a higher being like her.

She was the oldest of her siblings, and she was a fragment of a being once forgotten.

She was the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the strongest of the Tailed Beasts, the embodiment of power and strength, the-

"Hey lady, are you just gonna sit there like a tree or say anything to me, huh? I may look like this, but I can whip out some nasty pranks on you for breaking into my flat like this." The boy threatened with a flat tone of voice.

Rather than slapping him for his insolence, which she should do afterwards, she shook her head.

The boy watching her looked at her with confusion.

Then, she opened her eyes, after having briefly closing them, and said, "Boy, listen to me."

Naruto did not know why, but he shut himself up like a treasure chest after being told to do so by the woman in front of him. He could feel air building up a lump in his throat, he recognized this feeling.

"I was not jesting with you." She started to say. "I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the very same entity sealed into you by one of your kind that fateful night."

At the drop of the fact, Naruto's eyes went wide.

"Now, I am very much aware of the confusion. How am I here? What did I do to you back then? Why have I end up in this... form." She hesitated at the end there. "To tell you honestly, monkey... I do not know the first and third question, I only know the second."

"I attempted to possess you, thinking that it would let me escape from that prison of death... but regret quickly catch onto me sooner than expected." She paused. "I planned to... corrupt your body with my chakra, knowing full well that it will harm you. But in the middle of doing so, something stopped me."

"I can only blame that intervention on the design and mechanism of the seal that contained me, rather than you, seeing as you are completely helpless and useless."

"Oi!"

She ignored his outburst. "That seal which contained me... was planted by Shinigami-sama himself, I trust that you at least know who or what a Shinigami is, boy?"

She saw him nod slowly.

"What was I thinking? I know that something would go wrong, it was not a mere prison, that seal..." her eyes glazed over him, eyeing him with her ruby orbs. "Now... just to confirm, you did not do anything, did you?"

"N-No... even if I would, I couldn't. You were trying to kill me, remember?" His tone ended with a good mix of resentment and sarcasm.

To which she replied with a brief chuckle. "Indeed I did. But enough of that, I suppose you have questions of your own that needs answering, no?"

"Well..." he looked away uneasily, loosening the collar of his stuffy jacket. "...yeah, definitely."

"Then, speak, boy."

He huffed, expressing clear displeasure at being ordered around. "Do... well, do you know why the Fourth Hokage sealed you into... me?"

She leaned back, an impressive feat for someone who was sitting in seiza. "I cannot say I know... all I know and remember was what transpired that night." She droned. "I cannot say I know, much less even care, as to why that particular monkey sealed me into you... maybe it was fate?"

He openly scoffed at her suggestion. "Yeah right... it's gotta be someone's sick and twisted sense of humor screwing with the circumstances of my birth..."

The woman blinked, but this time, for an entirely different reason. She was not expecting him to react like this, and it interested her. "Oh, but is it not the same? Fate... divine machination is a mystery even to me, boy. And believe me, when you are a being as old and seasoned as I am, you will get to see your fair share of divine work."

Naruto could not say anything againts or about it. She was the Kyuubi after all.

"But, regardless, boy... this predicament... of having me outside the seal, I can say one thing for sure: I am liking it."

He looked at her, confused once again.

"I was locked up in that prison of death for what seems to be eternity... Shinigami-sama had a sick and twisted sense of humor himself, you see." She chuckled, but it was only bitterness. "Time went slower than it is here... one hour there is approximately three lifetimes here."

 _'That's... three hundred years.'_ The blonde gulped.

"And since I am not used to having my perception of time being tampered and altered like that, even if I am of a higher being... it was literally _eons_ for me." Her chuckles deepened, borderlining scary. "Can you imagine? No... of course you can't. You are only human, after all.

She took a moment to let it all sink into him.

"Spending each fraction of a second here is pretty much freedom for me already." With a smooth movement of her hand, she flicked back a lock of black hair that hindered her ocular perception. "I will chalk this up as one of the smallest, yet most satisfying of victories I have achieved." She smiled. "I conquered Death's prison, after all. Even for a being like me, that is still impressive."

She might have had spoken quite a bit, but his curiosity and confusion still needed sating.

"But... listen here, you are outside of the seal." Naruto said, slowly. "I don't know if you know, but you're like some sort of boogey man for the people here."

He continued. "We're still mourning for the people that died on the day of your attack... not to mention, from what Iruka-sensei told me, our Shinobi Forces are still dealing with the lives of shinobi lost during that day. And now, all of a sudden, like a cold fart, you appear in the literal flesh in the form of a very attractive woman. What will people have to say about that?"

She hummed, thinking. "You brought up a sound point there, monkey."

"Oi."

"If it assures you boy, know that I am not whole."

"Huh?"

"Let me rephrase that in a way that your cognitively impaired, simian brain would understand."

"..."

She placed a hand on her ample chest, causing the boy sitting in front of her to look away in embarrassment. "Consider the me here sitting in front of you a portion of the marvel that you saw behind the seal moments then."

 _'M-Marvel...?'_

"I am not whole, meaning that this form in front of you, contains nothing more than just a fragment of its original potential." She smiled while saying this, much to Naruto's confusion. Why would she be smiling?

"I find it ironic, considering that I was already a fragment of something else to begin with and for me to be fragmented into an even smaller piece..." She chuckled.

"And they say what was once broken could not be broken..."

...should he, like, laugh too?

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen could not, for the love of him, say anything about what he was currently reading. The old man's wooden tobacco pipe was puffing out smoke like a steam engine, which explained why he had the window to his office opened. The smoke was carried outside, dispersing into the sky above the village he so dearly loved.

The situation outside was opposite of what he was feeling on the inside. It was a bright, sunny and over all wonderful day. The temperature was warm befitting a continent with a tropic climate like the Fire Country and the sky was like a rack with fluffy, white meringue-like clouds dotted randomly.

Hiruzen, however, did not share the goodness of the weather.

He was sweating out cold sweats, his arms shaky as he held the thin piece of parchment between his wrinkly old man fingers. With how wide his mouth was opened, it was amazing that his pipe had not fall out yet.

 _'Dear Old Man,_

 _Hey old man, Naruto here. I know this is kind'a sudden, but I think I know why the entire village hates me. I mean, now that I think about it, it's kind'a obvious ain't it? My birthday's on the same day as the day it attacked the village, I guess I'm really an idiot after all for not figuring it out sooner, huh?_

 _Well, so you see, I kind'a talked to the fox. Now, don't panic, I don't want you to have a heart attack just yet, Konoha's still going to need you old man, so don't die just yet. But, yeah, I kind'a went and talked with the big furry furbal._

 _At first, it threatened to kill me and quote on quote **'vanquish every single one of you hairless apes to the depths of Oblivion'** if I don't let it out of the seal. But thankfully, Iruka-sensei told me not to do what strangers ask of me when I was younger and the lesson seemed to have stuck into me. _

_So, I didn't do what the fox told of me._

 _Ah, but if nothing happened to me, I wouldn't have written you this letter._

 _You see, old man... the fox **kind'a** escaped._

Hiruzen was clenching his chest. Specifically, where his heart was at.

 _I said kind'a because, well, it's not like a giant twenty storey tall demon fox of doom suddenly birthed itself out of my stomach, otherwise I'd have the entire shinobi forces of Konoha, and you not to mention, on my tail. You see... the fox kind'a managed to let a portion of its chakra out of the seal (me) and outside my, well, body._

 _Now... it has a solid human body. Which is also a female. Why female? Don't ask me, even the fox's is confused him-err... herself? Itself? Dang, I don't know._

 _Anyway, as to why I'm writing this, well, it's clear I can't let him-her... out of my sight, so I'll be having her stay with me. And, I forgot to mention, she was naked when she came out of the seal, so we're currently in town fetching some clothes for her._

 _And you see, since I'm a still an academy student and all I'm not exactly 'rolling in dough' as those kids from the ghettos would put it... so... send me some cash? Please, gramps?_

 _Love,  
Naruto and Kurama_

 _ **P.S:** Kurama's her name._

 _ **P.S.S:** Don't send ninjas after me, she'd threatened to kill anyone you send. I'll drop by your office after I'm done shopping with her._

 _ **P.S.S.S:** I'm really serious about the cash thing, old man. I'm so poor I owe myself money, you expect me to be able to support a maniac female demon fox girl now?_

Without any slightest hint of hesitation, the Hokage crumpled the paper, and then pressed the intercom button.

"DEFCON Four. We are entering DEFCON Four!"

* * *

"Out of all the troubles that you could have gotten yourself into, Naruto..."

He really needed to find a new outlet.

"Hey, monkey, stop mulling over yourself and come here quick. I've found something of interest."

Uzumaki Naruto. An orphan attending the ninja academy, Konoha's resident troublemaker, ninja cadet in training and the Jinchuriki of the Nine Tailed Demon Fox was currently having the worse predicament in his life.

In less than six hours, he had found out that he was the container to the demon fox that attacked his village twelve years ago, had said demon somehow somewhat partially self-expelled out of his body and was now forced to accompany the very same demon to wardrobe shopping. He did complained, a lot. But she threatened him in ways that no other humans have threatened him before, and that terrified him, explaining why he was quietly obeying her orders.

"Yes, yes." He droned out, traces of annoyance evidence in his tone.

"One 'yes' is enough, you rude ape."

He took in a deep breath of air.

It had been less than six hours, but it already felt like this woman, demon fox girl thing whatever, had been bitching at him for the past twenty four months or so.

The fact that he hated shopping made it worse. Don't get him wrong, he shopped from time to time, but that was only because he needed to get a few things quickly. With her, however, they had been wandering around the entire freaking market district for the past thirty minutes or so.

Men shopping, except for some cases, never lasted that long!

The sheer and obvious difference between male and female endurance aside, he noticed that they – or rather _she_ – had gathered a handful of watchers.

Let him make things clear.

Kurama – the damned Kyuubi – had a hot female human form. Seriously, it transcended multiple levels of WTF-ness that no other humans had ever reached before. She looked so out of place walking next to him, really.

Either that, or he's the one who looked out of place walking that next to her.

With her stunning looks, she could easily make a run for those pin-up models he'd seen on the cover of magazines sold on shops.

She had every characteristics that any straight male would deem attractive. Tall? Check. Excellent figure? Yup. Thick, luscious lips? _Oh definitely_. She could easily be mistaken for one of those magazine models he mentioned earlier. Her hair, as peerless and elegant as night itself, shined in a way that no hair conditioner could ever make a normal hair look like. Like a waterfall cascading down from heaven itself, it reached down to her thigh area, something which both concerned and turned Naruto on at the same time. Her face was oval shaped, with no hint of facial deformities at all. Skin so pale, she'd make a turnip jealous.

But what made the eyes of multiple men, and maybe some women too, stuck on her was the fact that she was wearing nothing more than a large, oversized plain orange shirt with a pair of short cotton pants. It made her all the more... sinful.

In the midst of walking, they had reached the place that caught her interest. The whiskered blonde looked up to look at the exterior of the clothing boutique and he almost tripped on air.

"Oi... Oi... this is a kimono store, you know?"

It was... a fairly old looking antique shop. Everything from the exterior design screamed of old, pricey fabric that would bust a hole in his already abyssmal savings.

Turning her body, she made it clear that she did not understood his question from the facial expression she was showing.

"It means things in there are going to have to be made, not _bought_." Naruto explained. But the expression persisted. "And _expensive_." Again, the expression remained. "...I'm poor."

The look of confusion was lifted, replaced by something similar to disappointment. "I see, I suppose I cannot hope for much with a host like you."

"Oi."

"Then, I'll leave the acquiring of garments to you. Don't disappoint me."

He sighed. _'Today is going to be a long day...'_

* * *

 **How do you like this?**

 **I'll admit, I take direct inspiration from the famous and god-tier fanfiction that has ever been published; _Naruto Genkyouien_. But... I have some bad news here.**

 **OC's: Like I said, since this was very and directly inspired from Genkyouien, this story might have and probably will have a lot of OC. And if my Mercenary story is telling me anything, most of you guys don't really like OC's.**

 **Plot: This first chapter was done, like many of my stories, without a proper mind-map. But think of the possibilities of this starting point could bring this story, charming, eh? I'm the type of guy who learns from his mistake, so it's almost impossible for me to NOT screw up first and then poorly attempting to fix what I have done.**

 **MC's personality: I guess it's pretty much the norm for authors to address this point whenever they are writing a Naruto fanfiction. One side of the readers will like the OOC-ness of the MC and say that it was a fresh change from the original Naruto. While on the other hand, the elitist would flip from having the MC being raped personality and behavioral wise. This is always an issue when writing, and I expect to see this in anything I publish in the future.**

 **Author's personal skill: I'm not building up a huge sandcastle of sympathy to have you guys pity me or feel for me or anything like that, but I have to say that I'm not a very good writer. I'll admit. I'm just a guy who likes writing, that's all. And this is more than just a matter of grammatical error or things like that. I'm not a good planner, and everything I write is limited only to my experience, which I have to say it isn't much to begin with, and that I'm a guy who goes on his own pace. So it's hard, very hard for me to work on a deadline or things like that.**

 **Real Shit: Alright, now that the beautiful stuff's been glazed over, let me tell you the real deal why this A/N is a bad news.**

 **Bad news is, well, I'm discontinuing one of my existing stories.**

 **And I know you guys will not like that.**

 **But instead of seeing it as... discontinued, try to see it as _'discarded until further notice'_. I can't really abandon something I've put so much work, effort and time into creating and just let it gather dust somewhere in FFdotnet's database of published works. **

**The reason why will be explained in that story's own page, and I will have a detailed reason as to why.**

 **But... I'm sure that all of you here are smart enough to figure out which story I'm referring to about here.**

 **So, with that said, I'm sorry. This has been a long chapter, and it didn't even reached a 10K mark. Should I ever update this story, I will try to reach at least the 10K barrier.**

 **With love and care,**

 **Rain (lol that's my irl nickname)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Yo, beautiful people.**

 **This is more or less where my interest is leaning towards to for now.**

 **Hope you guys have a great day (or night).**

 **And please, enjoy.**

* * *

"..."

"Monkey, what is this you've brought for me to wear?"

"...it's a piece of clothing, Kyu-I mean, Kurama-sama."

"Yes, I know that you tool. But what is this particular piece of clothing? Never in my long life have I encountered such a... ridiculous piece of apparel."

There were certain things that no men should ever do.

"And what is this one in particular? Is this some sort of slingshot weaponry device that all females of your race should have?"

And being forced to do underwear shopping was one of them.

 _'Heck, I ain't even a man yet!'_ In the inside, he was crying waterfall sized tears. Outside, however, he was trying to ignore the people – most of which were females due to _obvious_ reasons – giving him strange looks.

"Am I even putting these on correctly? Hey, monkey, what shall I do with the mask-like thing again?"

"Monkey, this... _bra_ is a little bit too tight, go and fetch me something that will fit my size."

"Huh, these are remarkably comfortable. Boy, we shall purchase more of these... _boxers_... yes, yes."

This should be a form of torture, it had got to be! Not only was he going underwear shopping, he also had to endure the humiliation of being watched by people who were currently giving him judging looks! It's enough that they saw him as the demon, but being labeled a demon and a pervert kid at the same, now that takes the cake.

"Kurama-sama..." He hated how she was making him call her that. "Can we go now?"

"Just a moment, boy."

She said that before and this was not the first time he heard it. Looks like he has no choice to wait.

"Alright, I'm done."

"Oh thank god, I thought this was gonna take lo-oooooh my god what are you doing?!"

He had not the slightest clue about women's fashion, much less anything about their clothing. But he was at least knowledgeable about decency and common sense, and Kurama was showing anything but those two.

He knew he was the one who picked the underwears for her to try, but in his defense, he picked several matching pairs at random and gave them for her to try! And, well, he regretted not looking at what was it that he threw at her for to try.

"Y-Y-You...! Why are you only in tho-tho-those?!" He had his eyes covered with both arms, his face red all the way to his ears. "Where're the clothes woman?!"

Kurama blinked. "Hm? Am I not supposed to wear this underneath the clothing?"

"We-Well, yeah! But why the hell aren't you wearing anything _over_ it!?"

"Hmph, this was to let you see. Be glad that I'm giving you such high privilege boy, regardless of the monkey you are."

He was torn apart on being angry and embarrassed at the same time. He had all reasons to be embarrassed and angry, Kurama was standing in front of him in literally nothing but underwear, and well, she called him a monkey again.

"A-Anyway, go inside! People are looking this way!" True to his words, their banter had managed to gather some unwanted and judging eyes from the nearby shoppers.

"Hmph, very well, we shall pay for these right away then... after I decide on one final thing."

The boy groaned.

He had heard stories from his senpais who were already Gennin ranked shinobi within the corps. They said that the first few years were going to suck since they'd be stuck doing menial tasks like fence painting, rubbish gathering and babysitting or things like that.

So that's why Iruka-sensei liked to shout at kids a lot...

But, anyway, what he was doing now could be considered as one of those menial jobs that his senpais were stuck doing. The difference was that he's shopping for a demon rather than an old, wrinkly cat lady who lived in an apartment somewhere in the residential district.

He reached his pocket, pulling out the deflated green frog designed wallet purse.

"Damn... this is going straight from my savings." Which sucked, a lot. It's a good thing that he didn't have to pay for tuition fee. Yeah, orphans get free education in the academy.

Guess how many desperate parents exploited the hell out of that?

A few minutes later, the curtain to the changing room opened once more. This time, he was ready to brace and by that he meant covering his eyes in case Kurama pulled something like earlier again. But to his surprise, and slight disappointment, she was fully clothed. Well, maybe he wasn't as disappointed.

She chose a kimono, even if he highly recommended something more modern and easier to put on for her to wear, and unlike from the kimono store they visited before, this one was those pre-made ones which you could get for a cheaper price rather than a custom made one. Well, technically, they don't sell kimonos at all. They sell fabrics to make the kimono out of. However, since statistics had shown that people were getting lazier by the decade, it was more common for fabric shops to also provide a kimono making service for the extra shekels.

The one that Kurama was wearing may be categorized as the cheapest one, but it did not hinder her beauty at all. In fact, if he had to say it, she made the thing look good. Not even Sakura-chan was going to wear it as well as Kurama did. She chose a black kimono, with decorative red sunset designs all over. She had managed to put it on all by herself, a feature that was considered hard, if he recalled what those girls sitting at the back of his seat at the academy said.

Now, he didn't know if it's some sort of statistically proven fact or whatever, but...

"Ugh... this one is a little bit too small for me."

Now he knew that it goes without saying but... don't busty women look good in wearing traditional clothing? Heck, they look _good_ in anything!

Especially in _nothing_!

Look at it, those _things_ could spill at any second! He's afraid that the fabric of the kimono wasn't going to be strong enough to hold _those_... puppies back!

Gulping real hard, Naruto was having difficulty looking at her face. There were two reasons for this.

One, the bitter but true reason, it's because he's short.

And two, also true but not bitter at all, her boobs were in the way.

"This should do, for now... and I've folded the ones I chosen over there inside." She gestured, back inside the changing stall. "Go fetch them, pack them for me and let us pay already."

He sulked, he really needed to get used to being ordered around from now on...

But, regardless of personal feelings, he did just that. After making sure he had all the clothing that Kurama had chosen, they went to the register to purchase. It's a marvel, these things called boutiques. With the advancement of technology, they have these machines which stored money and allow the cashier to make calculations.

"Hello ma'am, are these..."

Kurama watched as the woman's face morphed from a perfect business smile to one that was reminiscent of a cook who had seen more than three rats inside his pantry. She was confused. And what confused her even more was the fact that it was not directed towards her, but the boy standing by her side.

It didn't take long for hospitality and politeness to be thrown out of the window.

"You, _brat_ , what are you doing here? Can't you see that you're disrupting my business?!"

Scratch that. She was not confused, not anymore. She was downright baffled.

Correct her if she was wrong, but disrupting meant something along the lines of direct interference, right?

"Look here lady, I'm just here to pay for these then I'll be out of here as soon as possible, okay?"

So how on earth was a customer disrupting sales when he was trying to purchase items? That's illogical. Customers were supposed to make purchase, wasn't this a shop?

"Listen here boy. We don't serve your... _**kind**_ here." The woman's voice was like literal acid when she emphasized the word. She was looking at the blonde in a way that no other human should ever look like when they were talking to another person.

"Lady, lis-"

"I don't want to listen to your reason, brat, just get the hell out of here or I'll call the Shinobi on you!"

"Look here, I'm asking-"

"Go! Now! And take that... _**demon**_ sympathizing whore of yours with you!"

"Woman, loo-"

" _ **Repeat what you said."**_

Both Naruto and the cashier flinched. It's as if their very souls were struck by a cold metal rod to the point where their bodily hairs were standing up right.

Naruto's experience with Kurama's scary voice may not be too long ago, but he was reminded that this beautiful woman standing next to him, dressed in the risque kimono was not a woman at all. Heck, she wasn't even a person.

" _ **Say that word again."**_

The Kyuubi was known as a monster. A demon. A literal catastrophe that ended the lives of hundreds to thousands of Konoha citizens, both Shinobi and civilians alike. The residents could never forget the demon fox that destroyed their homes, killed their families and loved ones... and when they found out that the same demon was contained inside a vessel in the form of a certain blonde haired boy... the line between reason and action were blurred by hatred.

But this monster was out of its prison and it was more than capable of replicating what it had done twelve years ago.

The cashier visibly took a step back, cowering at the amount of ill intent she was receiving. Back then, Shinobi who was exposed to the Kyuubi's negative and evil aura suffered from instant anxiety attacks, paralysis and even nausea.

What both Naruto and the clerk were feeling was just a teeny-tiny portion of what those Shinobi felt back then, but both were already shivering and weak on the knees. Of course, the clerk was taking it worse, since she was the one who Kurama was focusing on. Woman was looking worse than a pig in a slaughter.

" **Listen here, human."** Naruto thought that Kurama was austere on him when they first met inside his subconscious. Boy was he wrong.

" _I would stop at nothing to reap your pathetic little soul out from that even more pathetic flesh bag you call a body. Nothing, in fact, could stop me from doing that."_

Though her words were not as... demonic as before, it was not less threatening nor harsh. Kurama sounded like she still wanted to murder the woman in front of her.

"We are here to purchase your wares and I even bear with having to put myself on the same level of low as your kind does and this is how you're treating me? Treating _us_?"

Naruto thought that the expression 'sharp words' were just expression. But here he was, witnessing a demon cutting through a human with only her words.

"You humans are as petty as I remember you to be..." with one last glare, Kurama caused the woman to shriek and collapse to the ground, weeping in fright over what had just transpired.

"Boy."

Naruto could not immediately reply to Kurama's call. He was still trying to process the fact that someone came to his defend over a problem that he had experienced many times before, what's even more bizzare, it's none other than the demon who people hate him for!

"Monkey."

His head snapped to look at the masquerading demon. She lacked the curious persona she had moments ago when she was out of the seal, instead, all she had now was annoyance.

"Let us go." She clicked her tongue, turning her direction towards the entrance. "I do not wish to be here anymore."

"O-Okay..."

Kurama walked out of the store first, leaving the boy and a traumatized clerk behind. Naruto, was torn between the decision of leaving without paying or at least puttig a reasonable amount of money at the table. He actually put some thoughts into this.

"...curse you Iruka-sensei for all that moral business..."

Burrying his hand into his pocket, he took out several bills, just enough to cover a portion of the items they had bought. He grabbed a plastic bag from behind the counter and put the clothing inside, before rushing outside to catch up with Kurama.

* * *

The walk now was... more tense than before.

Rather than being in fear at the fact that the Kyuubi was walking next to him, Naruto was pressured with this invisible air of awkwardness that made him unable to talk regardless if he wanted to or not. Thankfully, the village's atmosphere was chatty enough to create an air of ignorance to the crushing and overbearing weight of silence.

His mind was still running laps around the field of bizzareness, don't get him wrong. The whole thing about him being the Kyuubi's container, the Kyuubi escaping the seal which was supposed to keep it... er her at bay and the fact that he was pretty much okay with everything was pretty much still in his mind! He's a dumb kid, he knew that, but he never knew that the revelation of a poorly knitted secret could be so mind opening to him.

All the hate, all the curses, all the resentment... it all made sense.

Twelve years... twelve years of being despised and hated for a reason he was ignorant to... now, he knew.

It... dawned upon him.

 _'The old man... he knew.'_

Yet he never told him.

Those days when he asked him if he knew who his parents were, he would say no and end things in a cryptic manner. His young mind knew that the old man was hiding something from him, but he was sure that he wouldn't hide something as important as, well, this.

He was the container of the Kyuubi.

But the very same person who he considered as his grandfather had hidden the fact from him. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't... mad. He's mad, but also confused, conflicted, disappointed and... scared.

He's scared.

The woman walking beside him was noneother than the Kyuubi itself, the demon fox, the-

"Boy."

He flinched. Her calling made him stop thinking and derailed him from his train of thoughts.

"...let us go somewhere." She paused. Whether it was intentional or not, he didn't know. "To talk."

He blinked, confused. He felt like stopping to think but he managed his pace. After a delayed silence, he finally answered. "Sure."

So they walked, with him leading.

A few paces ahead of her, he escorted her through the streets. Never mind the stares they were receiving, they continued to walk without even acknowledging anyone looking their way. They reached the end of the market district, and into a quieter part of the village. This was one of the least populated residential areas, since most of the housing here were normal houses rather than apartments which were a more popular choice of residence with the locals.

The sun was still up high in the sky, telling people that night was still further away. There were no clouds, making the weather even more pleasant to enjoy for outdoor enthusiasts. But they were not here to enjoy the weather nor the outdoor atmosphere. Kurama made it clear that they were going to talk. Their walking continued for several more minutes, with Naruto carrying the clothing they 'purchased'.

His leading ended up with the both of them standing on a pier overlooking a small river which separated one part of the district with the other neighboring one. He, himself, walked towards the edge of the pier; sandals covered feet tapping on the wooden plank surface.

"So... what do you want to talk about?"

The black haired masquerading demon did not answer him immediately. She walked up to hind, standing on the same edge, overlooking the river.

"...what happened before, tell me, does it happen often?"

The boy standing beside her shrugged, as he too saw the same scenery as she did.

"Yeah, kind'a."

She was expecting such a less-than satisfactory answer from him.

"So, tell me, how do you acquire your daily necessities? You humans have set up civilization with such a complicated system but orderly system, so I doubt that you harvest your own food nowadays or make your own clothing."

"Well, no kidding."

Kurama narrowed her eyes, feeling irritated at the boy's sarcastic tendency.

"I mean, it's not that bad." He felt the irritation spiking up from Kurama, causing him to rethink his words. "Most of them don't really bother me aside from those who're really violent. Some shops allow me to shop there as long as I pay and leave after I got what I want... while most, like what you've seen, really don't want me inside their business at all." he chuckled, dryly. "Now, since all the older generations are getting older and dying, I got to go to more shops than I do when I was younger."

"I... see."

"So... why are you asking me this?"

He asked her a question of his own, and she understood why. But how should she say it; she did not have an answer to his question. She could just say that she was curious and leave things as it was, but that would not be ideal since she would be... relying on the boy from here onwards.

After several moments of silence and a total lack of answer, she spoke,

"Honestly speaking, I was curious." She did not went off far from her initial tangent, if it could be called one. "It... astonishes me. That human from that shop, she knew full well that you are not me... yet she sees you as me."

"It is... pathetic."

Naruto did not expect for her to use that particular word.

"It is downright, pathetic."

She was sighing.

"...why?" the boy asked, sounding more confused than curious. "How is it... pathetic to you?"

Neither looked at the other; they opted to watch the reflection of the sky reflected upon the surface of the running river.

"I do not have a very high opinion of you humans. Your kind worth naught but a single thing to me." She said so with a hint of passion. "How could they compare me to the likes of you, a mere human?"

Naruto tensed, his blue eyes strained from what he was about to hear.

"You might be my warden and container, but you are still human nonetheless. And to think that these people see you as the wonderful beast that struck terror in their very being twelve years ago was... was..."

" _Insulting_ to me." She found the right term.

He clenched his fists hard, balling them into fists.

"But that is not the only reason why I am even more appaled of you humans."

"Your blindness and your ability to hate... they're even worse than that of a demon's."

The boy stopped clenching his fists, and his eyes went wide. Did he hear correctly? The Kyuubi, a demon, was saying that humans' capability to hate was even worse than a demon's? Did he hear correctly?

He heard a sigh escapaing the demon's lips once again.

"You humans may rule over lands, cities, nations... but you could not even rule your own emotions. It is... it's... I lack words describe it."

Then, she made an expression that looked like she had finally found a word to describe it.

"It is stupidity incarnate."

"Oi."

"What?" The fox-woman finally turned to look at him, getting a clear look of his clearly displeased expression. "It is true. And now that you know that they should be directing their hatred towards me, do you not feel the same as I do?"

That question got him to shut up. It struck a chord him. He should be mad at Kurama. He should be screaming, shouting and telling people that the Kyuubi was not him, but her. He had all the rights to do that... so, why wasn't he doing any of that?

" _Listen here boy. We don't serve your... **kind** here."_

" _I don't want to listen to your reason, brat, just get the hell out of here or I'll call the Shinobi on you!"_

" _Go! Now! And take that... **demon** sympathizing whore of yours with you!"_

He imagined a scenario in his head.

Even if he somehow managed to tell everyone that he was not the demon... would they still believe him? Even if he did a lot of convincing, would that make them stop spiting him? His earlier exchange with that cashier register lady was not helping his mind come up with positive reasonings.

Kurama watched the boy, reading him as clear as the river running before them. He was thinking, trying to come up with reasons to debate her conclusion and a way to prove her wrong. She found it amusing. She had always have this... hidden pleasure of seeing a person's will being broken right before her eyes. This was no different.

What's different, however, was the blonde's reaction.

Most people, when presented with a fact – proven or not – that conflicted with their beliefs, would retaliate and attempt to prove the other person wrong. In most cases, these people would become explosive, aggressive and maybe even downright violent.

But the boy was not showing any of that. She could not even feel the slightest hint of irritation from her. It effectively shut down her amusement.

She was confused, now.

He sat down on the edge of the pier, sighing as he crossed his legs in a yoga position. Placing the plastic bag containing Kurama's clothing beside him, then spoke,

"Well, you're right. People are dumb."

She waited for him elaborate.

"And yeah, sure, they can be blind."

Again, she waited.

"Even if I somehow can prove to them that you're the Kyuubi, I'm a hundred percent sure that it won't stop them from... hating me."

Then why... the demon screamed in her head.

"But, hey, hate and fear will do that to anyone."

Kurama's left eyebrow rose by a few milimeters

"Frankly, I don't care." He yawned. "I used to care, heck, I questioned it a lot of times before, but now... I don't care. I try not to care... if that makes any sense to you."

Her silence was an indication that she wanted to know more, she wanted to know the reason behind his answer. Thankfully, Naruto kept on speaking.

"The old man, that's the Third Hokage, told me that you can take a horse to a... eh... pond, but you can't make it drink from the pond." The young boy shrugged. "I guess this is the same kind of problem, yeah?"

"...so you opt to stop caring, is that it?"

"Yup."

"Even as I, the source of your torment, pain and suffering, am standing here, right here, beside you, in the flesh?"

"Yeah."

"You can demand me even more questions. Scream at me, curse at me... but you won't do such things?"

"Doing those things won't change anything. And, meh, I'm not up for arguing unless it's with a certain stuck up Uchiha."

"You can try to hurt me and hope that it'll kill me, you know."

"Heh." He scoffed. "Nice try, but I won't fall for that." He shook his head. "The only thing I can do in that statement is hope. But, nah, even if that's true, I won't. I'll get my license to kill when I graduate from the academy." Then, he yawned again. "I'll wait a year until then."

She was confused.

She was soooooo confused.

This was the opposite of what she had expected. She was expecting him to cry, in a fit of anger, and demand her to apologize. She even expected him to try and attack her. This was not what she was expecting. She did not expect him to just suddenly come to terms with his predicament. Humans... were not supposed to be so composed... he wasn't supposed to be so calm, why was he calm in the first place?!

You're a human! You're supposed to be filled with misery and anger, not-not... calmness and acceptance! You're supposed to hate her, scream at her, blame her for all the problems you've faced all this time!

 _So. Why. Aren't. You. Doing. That?!_

.

.

.

"Monkey..."

Naruto, with his hands supporting his body as he leaned backwards, turned his head to look at her. "Hm?"

"Out of all the humans I have met... I have never met one like you before."

That got Naruto thinking. "Should I be flatered or scared about that fact?"

Kurama, somehow in a lady-like grace, occupied the space next to him, sitting in seiza. The wind blowed from the east, causing her black locks to billow.

"You should be thankful, first and foremost." He clicked his tongue, showing annoyance at her 'holier-than-thou' attitude. "And as to what you should feel... maybe a mixture of both?"

"..."

"..."

"Nah, I'll settle on being scared."

"Whatever you say, monkey."

* * *

Hiruzen remembered the last time he was nervous of people entering his office.

And he couldn't recall anything.

Why? It's because such things never happened!

He was never nervous of people entering his office because there was no reason for him to be so. In fact, it should be the other way around. But now, it was his turn to feel the pressure. Why?

It's because he's going to meet the boy who, probably, released the motherfucking Kyuubi.

He was nervous beyond believe. He was feeling the same kind of pressure he felt twelve years ago, and it was about to be deja vu. He felt dizzy, but he remained steadfast and ready. His palms sweaty, knees weak, arms heavy and overall composure moments away from being as floppy as noodles; Hiruzen was trying his best to not look intimidated.

 _KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK_

He nearly summoned Enma.

"Old man, I'm here, can I come in?"

"C-Come in Naruto-kun, please, quickly."

"Okay."

And the boy entered his office. With a girl in tow. Alarms went blaring inside Hiruzen's head, but his practiced composure managed to prevent him from making a fool out of himself in front of his... guests. He casted the boy a brief look, confirming whether or not there were visible changes in his appearance and he was relieved to see nothing of the sort.

The girl, on the other hand...

 _Damn she fine!_

Can you blame him? She might be who he thought she was but damn! Look at those! _Those!_

"Monkey, I do not like the way that old goat is looking at us. Me, especially."

Naruto shrugged his small shoulders. "Hey, he's only human and it's normal." Then, his nonchalant expression morphed into that of disgust. "But, yeah, I can see why it's creepy."

Having enough of being talked about as if he was not even in the room, Hiruzen coughed to his fist, attempting to start a serious conversation.

"H-Hello, Naruto-kun, I trust that she is..."

The boy chuckled, uneasiness sweeping past him. He forgot that they were here to have a serious talk. Silly him.

"Yeah, she's..."

 **GLARE**

"...she's the great and wonderful Kyuubi no Kitsune..." he squeaked out. "Kurama... sama."

Hiruzen blinked.

"I... see." The man sitting behind the desk of power shifted his position slightly, into a straighter pose. "Then... I trust that you know more or less the direction of how this conversation was going to be?"

Naruto nodded.

Hiruzen followed, nodding too.

"Okay, boy, what the hell happened." All formalities dropped, just like that.

"I-I don't know!" The boy replied, raising both hands into the air. "I was asleep a-and suddenly, I found myself inside my..."

"Your subconscious." The black haired demoness quipped.

"Yeah, subconscious, and then... I met her." He gestured towards the smiling demoness standing with her arms crossed beside him.

Sarutobi Hiruzen had heared many reasons in his life. Some were dumb and most of them made him wonder whether or not the human race was truly worth saving, but this one takes the cake. The aged leader of Konoha pinched the bridge of his already wrinkly nose.

What? You can't get wrinkles if you're already wrinkly anyway.

"Naruto..." the old man whispered, slowly articulating his name with his tongue. "Out of all the problems you could've caused..."

"Oh I asked myself that question already, old man. Trust me."

Kurama watched the exchange between the two humans with mild interest. One one hand, though, she was a little bit annoyed at how the wrinkly mortal was referring to her as a 'problem', yet on the other hand, she felt glad that the human knew his place as a lesser being and that she was capable of causing devestating catastrophe.

"And... then, anything else happened?"

Instead of Naruto, it was Kurama who answered.

"I attempted to harm him."

It's amazing how one could commit that they did harm in such a nonchalant fashion... then again, she was a demon.

The older and technically patriarch of the Sarutobi clan visibly blanched from his seat. It took him everything he was to not jump on his table and cause a scene.

"...I'm sorry?"

"You heard me the first time, old goat. I attempted to harm him." She paused. "No, I did harm him; the desired results just did not happen, which was his death and my release, by the way."

Both mortals present in the room was silent. For Naruto's case, it was mostly due to him wanting to let Kurama speak so that she could explain things for him. In Hiruzen's case, however, it had something to do with him trying to process the information he had just learned into his head.

"So..." the Third Hokage started. "You are saying that not only did you harm Naruto-kun, but you also did so with the intention of escaping the seal which was keeping you?"

"Yes."

"..." Hiruzen swallowed.

Wait, that came out wrong, fuck.

Hiruzen gulped.

Yeah, better.

"Then... are you free, now?"

Kurama noted the sheer lack of hope and the overwhelming presence of despair in the Kage's voice when he asked her that question. It elicited a chorus of laughter from her, one that made Naruto shiver and reminded the boy that she was no woman at all, much less human. Hiruzen was tense. All trace of comfort and visible nervousness were absent. He was inches away from summoning Enma.

 _'Grab Naruto-kun, switch with a Bunshin and use a captivity jutsu to attempt and contain the demon...'_

The war-shaped veteran's eyes were keen on analyzing the Kyuubi's every movement.

If he could not do that, then he should at least hold her off until the entire ANBU force he had ordered to be on standby outside of the perimeter storm into the office.

 _'Dragon and Coyote should be able to round up the Sealing Brigade and have them set up a sizeable barrier around the tower...'_

"Don't even bother trying to do anything, old goat, I know your plans."

Hiruzen froze, stiff.

"I have been purposely ignoring them up until this point... but I recall that I especially instructed the boy to tell you to not send any of your minions to spy on me. And, just like any other pathetic humans with their far less superior brain, you just have to do the exact opposite of what I wanted."

Naruto gulped. He recalled how serious Kurama was when she told him that she did not wish to have ninjas spying on her. He too, like the old man sitting behind the desk, was sweating.

"I can sense all of them all the way from here." She told him. "Four hundred pathetic souls with less than wortless chakra capacity waiting in line to be slaughtered for a mistake you made..."

Hiruzen had his hands under his desk forming a ram seal. It will only take a flare of his chakra for things to get messy.

"As much as I want to punish you for your insolence, I am not in the correct mood for such things."

Hiruzen did not relaxed just yet.

Kurama turned, casting a glance at the short blonde who too was showing signs of nervousness. Looks like he wasn't as hopeless as she thought he might be.

"We are here to talk, and talking will be the only thing we do... unless you want otherwise?"

"No, of course not." He said the words in one breath, very relieved that he had received a way better alternative than what he had initially hoped. "Let us talk, by all means."

"Good."

Naruto was not sure of what had just happened, but he knew enough to figure out that no one was going to die today. At least, that's what his gut was telling him.

"You have questions, and I understand that you want them answered." The Kyuubi started speaking in her feminine voice.

"However, I will say three things first; what I am about to say may just answer some of your most desired questions. Firstly, I am not fully out of the seal. The form you see before you contains only a tiny portion of my endless power. I do not know why I have taken this form nor will I spend much time thinking about such things. Secondly, yes, I _did_ harm the boy. But as you can see, he is unharmed. Even if want to do anything to him, it seems that I cannot even if I am to try. I have come to a conclusion that harming him will only harm me, and I am no fool."

There was irritation. It was confirmed that demons, apparently, do not fancy long speeches.

"Thirdly... I do not know if I could return to the seal, nor do I have any intention or returning. As a way of making things easier for you accept this new born fact, I am willing to listen to compromise" She glared. "But know that I will ultimately decide whether or not I accept your terms."

Hiruzen was not really in a position to negotiate. Well, not if he wanted to have the entire of his Black Ops division dead.

"Very well... we will settle to a compromise." Sighing, the old man gazed tiredly at the boy. "Naruto, please listen. You are about to listen to the most important conversations in your life."

"Wait, I thought the birds and the bees was the most important conversation in my life?"

"Well, not when you're in the kind of situation you are in now." The old man replied dryly.

"The old goat is right, boy. And for the love of Shinigami-sama, please listen attentively."

The boy visibly sulked, muttering about how people were underestimating his attention span under his breath.

"Alright." Hiruzen started firmly. "Kurama...dono, these are my conditions: First and foremost, you must promise that you will not harm or even attempt to harm Naruto-kun in anyway."

"Old man..." Naruto whispered, feeling touched upon discovering the old man's priority.

"He is not to be harm in any way." Kurama nodded, causing her hair to move along with the movement of her head. "Very well. There might come times when his lack of knowledge be of annoyance to me, so I will settle for a light scolding."

Naruto did not like the idea of a 'light' scolding from the Kyuubi. Nor should he look forward to being scolded in the first place.

"Secondly... I do not want any of my people to be harmed as well."

"I shall say something against that." Hiruzen's silence was a sign for her to continue. "I will not be provoked. Should provocations happen, do not blame me if you end up missing at least one of your 'people', human."

Hiruzen gulped, wincing. Those eyes of hers promised nothing but death for a brief moment.

"...acceptable." He regained his composure before continuing. "And lastly... do not, and I highly stress it, _do not_ , reveal your true identity to anyone..."

Hiruzen directed his gaze towards the boy.

"This applies to you too, Naruto."

The boy nodded.

"Those are the terms?" Waiting for no answer, Kurama nodded. "Very well, they seem and sound reasonable enough. Now that I am outside the seal, with no certain way of returning, nor do I have any intention to, I will have to coexist with you humans."

"I know that I should not expect anything much from you hairless apes, but I trust that you are capable of being a proper host and offer the slightest bit of hospitality?" She paused. "I am talking to you too, boy."

"Hey." Naruto groaned, his posture deflating a little bit. "Cut me some slacks, will ya'? It's not my fault I'm poor." Then, he perked up, before slowly snaking his to the Hokage's desk. "Speeeeeaking of being poor... old man, cash?"

Hiruzen blinked. "What about this month's allowance?"

"Hey, I still need those to buy stuffs like groceries and all that too, you know?" The whiskered blonde let out one huge sigh. "It's bad enough that they're bringing up the price every time I came into the shop, so Ichiraku's the only place I could spend my money on."

He turned to look at the demoness.

"You don't mind eating ramen for breakfast, lunch and dinner, right?"

The black haired beauty, tilted her head slightly to the right, blinking, while asking in a honest to God clueless voice,

"What is ramen?"

"...yup, first thing's first, I'm taking her to Ichiraku." The blonde muttered under his breath.

Hiruzen sighed, as well as resisting the overwhelming urge to slap himself on the face.

* * *

 **You might think that things are developing too quickly, but it's just an illusion. I am trying to make this story a dialogue centered piece, so you won't be seeing a large wall of descriptive writing. Think of it as a... Light Novel and Web Novel hybrid?**


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